It's like I'm so mentally drained that I want to follow the polly piper just because so many others have. Help! I want to believe them!But I know better. I think I'm in grief over the loss of my dreams. But I keep hearing their music ...it's so lulling....maybe it won't be so bad. I need a "GI" dose of reality!

-- Itol D. Youso (ohiogi@futile.com), December 10, 1999

Answers

Hokie,

Read cliff's message again: it's not ONE bank, but MANY banks that are affected by this situation. I have gotten several email messages in recent months from someone associated with a computer vendor whose products are also used in many banks, airline reservation systems, on- line brokerage houses, etc -- messages which expressed concern about the status of the operating system in the aforesaid product. Because the person who sent me the information was extremely nervous about being "exposed," I won't be any more specific than that.

Since I was unable to get any hard, tangible proof about the situation, it didn't go any further than that. It's understandable that cautious skeptics would hesitate to put too much credence into stories like this one, or like cliff's ... but those of us who work in the y2k field day in and day out see enough of these situations to conclude that, by the law of averages, at least a few of them are probably true.

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), December 10, 1999.

only two weeks ago I was interviewed for a job in repairing some server code for a company that sells product to banks. The program needed remediation, and needed support on several versions of a known non-compliant OS. They were missing source code, did not understand code maint issues for complex unix systems, and did not have some required versions of the compiler. The c code was straight forward compared to the environment issues. I could smell the death march from the begining, as well as hear the anxiety and stress in the account managers voice. It was scary. I declined. It is too late and I need to get personal prep issues resolved in the limited time remaining.

Oh, the software, which is in place now in some unknown hundreds of banks, provided bank to bank inter account settlements.

as the romans said to each other a mere 1000 years ago, 'bona fortuna in nova millennia'

-- cliff high (chigh@vallier.com), December 10, 1999.

Itol: Wake up! You can't eat dreams.If you don't have enough food & water for your family,then if the pollys are wrong,you'll be begging. If the pollys are right, then you can eat your preps.A no brainer. O.K., now you can go back to sleep!

on de rock

-- Walter (on de rock@northrock.bm), December 10, 1999.

Blam!!! There's the cold water on the face of reality! Thanks Cliff. Wanna clue me in to like the first and last letter of the bank? Can I buy a vowel? My payroll is drawn on Nation's, checking with Wachovis, but I get the impression from your post that perhaps this is the state of most the banks. Bet they even got satisfactory ratings from the .gov,

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 10, 1999.

1. Driving from LA to Sacramento on Interstate 5 after Thanksgiving last month I passed a convoy of Marines heading North. Counted about 15 Humvees, 6 of which were towing generators.

2. My employer, a branch of California State government, handed out an employee newsletter last month. The article on Page 1 stated that "nobody REALLY knows what might happen at the turnover" and recommended 3 to 7 days supply of food, water, and optionally, a generator.

3. Said same employer has stated nothing verbally about CDC, but actions speak louder than words. Preparations to date include a diesel generator, updated transformers, updated UPS systems, and a cellular emergency communications system.

NO guarantee anything BAD is going to happen - but it would be foolish to NOT expect SOME problems.

Finish your preps, pray, and stop worrying about the future...

-- not (even@telling.com), December 10, 1999.

Thanks Ed. I was hoping to hitch my caboose onto some fiscal glimmer of hope; you caught me!

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 11, 1999.